Artur and Linda are great. I'm having a really nice time with them on their little sailing boat which is docked at rio dulce. they are friends of a friend of my mum and they took me in as it was the most natural thing to do although we had never met before. we drink a lot of tea and chat the day away, it's such a nice chance to staying in hostels. they tell me a lot about guatemala (they have lived here for a looong time) and i feel so at home here its amazing.

July 21^st

             Well, I decided since I can't get to the Internet very often I should start documenting my days on my portable hard drive and then post it on my blog whenever I get to an Internet cafe, otherwise I will just forget about everything.

             So, today was sad. Tyler left for the airport around 10am and I am starting to feel pretty alone. I'm trying not to think about it too much, I'll just get even more sad :( But the countdown officially begins today. Approx. 8 weeks and 4 days till I see him again....oh and everyone else of course.

             After Tyler left I waited till about 1pm for a small bus to pick me up at the hotel to take me to the airport where I was to meet 2 other volunteers and the in country coordinator for Honduras. Afterwards, they took us to Valle De Angeles (about 45 min. away from Tegucigalpa), and that's where I am at right now. We did a quick little tour of the town (literally QUICK...the town has like 3 streets) and then went to eat. The meal wasn't anything too grand but we went around to some fun little souvenirs shops and I bought some coffee beans that are supposed to be very good that are made here in Honduras and some leather (sort of ) coasters. Now, I am sitting in my room with another female volunteer (Sonya from the UK) and not really doing much except sitting trying to think of stuff to do...pretty bored actually.

             Tomorrow we wake up, eat breakfast, and go to orientation, then off to our projects. I'm getting pretty burned out from living in hotels though. I know I am already missing the US and was actually pretty jealous when Tyler left. I have definitely took for granted a nice clean shower and even though I have had warm water here...I have no idea where the water is coming from. That's now one of the reasons the is a bottle of purified water in the bathroom for brushing your teeth. Another thing I am missing is just plain cleanliness and pride for your country. Going through Tegucigalpa, and other parts of the country, it is really sad to see SOOO much trash just on the sides of the roads and outside of restaurants. But I definitely can't wait to come back already. It's a pretty country near Puhlapanzak waterfall. Very green and beautiful trees and flowers (lots of bugs) but, like I said, I'm already missing America.

July 23^rd

             Well today was my first day of official teaching. At 7:00 am is when I had my first private lesson with an older man around his 50s, Luis. He was very nice and seemed to really be needing to talk to someone in English for practice. It was fun.

             I was excited to meet the class my roommate, Karen, has from 9-12. It is a little class of about 6 participating students plus 1 very undisciplined little girl about 4-5 years old. I was very surprised to find out...that I REALLY did not enjoy this group of kids. There were 2 little girls I really liked and just absorbed the lesson (Crystal and Maria) and 2 little boys that were fun and also very smart(Ricardo and Fernando) but the other 2 girls were just pain in the neck, out of control, whining, loud divas. They must have been 8-9 years old. This was probably the most time I have spent with kids were I didn't enjoy the time. I am one to love kids...love talking, playing, and listening to kids. But this was a different story. I don't know if it is just because this school is a private school and these kids don't appreciate the fact that they have the privilege to learn English or if they really just have these stuck up attitudes. I have actually been observing that the parents here have a total lack of discipline for their kids. They let them do whatever they want. For example: the family I am living with seems real sweet (the mother is from what I can gather, haven't spent too much time with her and the family though) but they 2 year old daughter just yells and runs around gets whatever she wants...she yells a lot.

             Tonight was pretty sad though. The mother asked me if I wanted dinner and I came down expecting to see the whole family helping out with food and putting it on the table  but here is this 15-17 year old maid giving me food and then the family's 2 kids, no parents to eat with them. The kids were in the living room watching some television show on their plasma flat screen tv. To get the kids over to the table to eat, the maid checks what channel they are watching and puts the channel on their OTHER plasma flat screen tv in front of the table. Then they start eating.

             My stay here so far hasn't been anything that I expected. Believe me, I prepared myself for the worse possible circumstances. However, I didn't prepare myself to be coming to a place that seems just like America and the rich Hondurans would be sending their snobby kids to the private school. When Tyler and I traveled outside of the capital the culture seemed more rich and around everyone but here in the city, terrible lack of it. And I would love to go traveling around the Country but that is only for the weekend and I would miss meeting.

             SO far it doesn't look like this is for me. I was wanting to do this to help out the community and the underprivileged of Honduras. Don't get me wrong, learning English is great and it seems like those that are coming for their businesses and such (the adults) are really getting their money's worth. I just thought I would be working with a group of children that really needs and appreciates this help. I met someone doing just that and it sounds great but he's a volunteer with no pay and don't even get me started on finances right now when I don't even make enough to save for our wedding.

             Well, today was kind of an eye-opening day for me and a disappointing eye-open at that so I guess you could call this an update/rant. I am planning a return at the end of August now instead of the end of September. I do miss everyone and it would be great to start looking for a full time job in SLO. If anyone knows of anything let me know! Thanks!

1. The most common way to get around is a golf cart. In town you can rent a golf cart per day or per hour. If you keep it under three hours then renting by the hour will always be cheaper. In town they rented per day for $85. Our resort rented for the day $55 and $15 per hour. So, always check where the rates at the place you are staying they will probably be cheaper than in town! (*prices in US, the exchange rate is $2belize=$1US) However, while the streets in town are not bad side streets can be pretty rough (for example the 4 mile trip back to our resort!) There can be a lot of potholes especially in the rainy season not to mention mosquitos! 2. Riding a bike is another common form of transport, you can rent them in town (and likely you can rent them thru your hotel also) Our place had them I don't know the price we were there to be lazy afterall! I do know it is way less than a golf cart though ;) 3. Water taxi, 2 types the island ferry which pass by every 2 hours in the daytime and hourly after 4pm. All the way thru midnight on weekdays and well into the wee hours on weekends. Special arrangements need to be made for other times. The cost of the ferry is $8 per person or 16 belize dollars. the other is a private water taxi. They cost only $5 US or $10 blz. per person, they will come for you at any time. The only catch to this one is that it needs to be a minimum of 4 persons traveling! 4. The cheapest way of course is to walk! There are only 3 major streets in the town afterall :D If you stay in town this can save you a great deal of money, but then again there's those darn mosquitos!

for this tour we had to get up at 5:30 in the morning.  Our tour guide was to pick us up at 6:15.  However, we where at our dock until almost 7 before getting picked up!  We had started wondering if we had been jipped!  Luckily we had not paid in full we had only left a $100 deposit and while that would have been alot to loose it would not have been as big a loss.  Close to 7 in the morning however our guide finally made his way to the dock!  We were the first to be picked up.

Words cannot express how happy I was to see Roatan this morning when our ship docked in the wee hours of the morning.  I had been anticipating this port ever since I found out that our scheduled stop in Costa Maya, Mexico was being replaced with Roatan.  As soon as I saw the island I knew I would love it, after all, it looked so much like my beloved USVI. 

I was so excited about leaving the ship that morning that I couldn't stand it.  This was the first port we didn't have an excursion booked.  We had planned on simply doing a beach day so I packed my back pack with a beach mat, a book, camera, sun block and sun glasses and ran down to the pier to meet the group.  As I waited in line to exit the ship I noticed a lot of people were already getting back onto the ship, this surprised me.  Someone behind me commented on the fact that "this port must suck since so many people are coming back on."  Perhaps it was the men standing around with machine guns that scared them?  Or maybe it was the locals harassing you as soon as you stepped foot onto the main road?  Whatever it was, we decided to press forward and not let the badgering bother us.  We were surrounded by people wanting to take us here or there.  Two children pulled me aside and told me to tell them "No thank you" and keep walking and they would leave me alone.  I did just that and the kids were right, fewer and fewer people were bugging us.  I feel in love with the children of Roatan.  Later I would learn there are several American/Canadian run orphanages on the island, the kids there were so sweet and kind and genuine.  I felt bad for them.

A man who calls himself "Eddie Murphy" offered to take us around in an air conditioned van and show us the whole island for only 10 dollars a person.  We figured that there were enough of us that we would be safe.  As we walked to his van about 4 people assured us that the was a good person and we would be safe.  2 children also told me the same thing.  Once we got away from the hoards of wanna-be-guides, Roatan was breathtaking.  The people that reboarded the ship right away certainly did miss out.  We took us to some amazing places, we saw two ship wrecks, we sat on a boat dock overlooking the sea, and got to snorkel at this gorgeous reef. 

My dad kept finding all of these fruits naturally growing on the side of the road that he wanted to try.  As we were looking over the shipwreck two children were laughin at him as he picked plums from the trees.  I joked around with the kids in Spanish about my dad's hefty appetite.  They laughed and laughed. 

The shopping in Roatan wasn't the best but this wasn't a shopping port.  This was definitely a snorkel and beach port.  It turned out to be nothing like the USVI and exactly like the USVI at the same time.  It was definitely a great port!

Travelmates:  Mom, Dad, Scott, Justin, Melissa, Carol, Tina, Andrew, Kim, Nana, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Rob, Rob and Kirstin.

If you asked me to plan out the perfect day, I would repeat today over and over again.  Today was simply amazing.  We docked in Belize before sunrise and boarded and air conditioned bus that drove us out of Belize City.  The city itself is nothing to write about, the true beauty of Belize is in the country side.  Full of rolling hills, farms and orchards the countryside is stunning.  Our ride lasted us about 45 minutes and led us to a restaurant area that rented out lockers, water shoes and sold trinkets.  After renting a locker and claiming our head lamp we boarded an old school bus and went for yet another ride.  This one took us deeper into the country side and to Cave Branch, a local park.  Our guide then handed us our inner tube and led us through a 30 minute hike through the jungle. 

Our hike took us to a part of the river that we had to cross by foot.  This spot was the ending point of our tubing journey, to get to the beginning we had to hike a bit further.  It was here though, that we got our first feel for the water.  It was cool but very welcoming given the heat.  There was a small cliff that many of the guys in our group jumped off of for kicks.

After we tubed for about an hour, we got to the ending point and hiked back to the bus.  We boarded a bus and were taken back to the locker area were we had lunch before we got dressed and claimed our belongings.

Even though our tour was so long, we still had time to shop in port.  The port of Belize has several shops for souvenirs and trinkets.  They have great wood carved animals there that people were going nuts over.  I can't wait to come back to Belize, next time I'm heading for the Mayan Ruins.

1102 Miles from home.
Travelmates:  Mom, Dad, Scott, Justin, Melissa, Carol, Tina, Kim, Andrew, Nana, Uncle Rob, Aunt Nancy, Kirstin , Rob.

DO NOT! I repeat DO NOT go to Belize and leave without trying this beer! The regular Belikin is the one to drink. Belikin is brewed by the Belize brewing company and they have been in business since 1960. They make four beers The premium lager, Lighthouse Lager, regular, and the stout. Out of the four we had the regular and the stout. The stout is a lot like guinness, great taste but very heavy. The label is simple it has a mayan temple on it the regular beer has a green cap, the stout a blue cap, and the lagers come in a green bottle. The regular is the absolute best! It was very smooth and had a great taste. I give this beer a 10 out of 10 rating. This is what we drank most of the time there we use to buy them at the grocery store for $3blz or $1.50US. However we were told that you could buy them by the case for cheaper on the street right off the trucks. Unfortunately we never did see the truck! Oh well, it’s not like the other price was outrageous. Bars and restaurants do sell it for a little more though our resort sold them for $5blz, so it was definitely worth buying them from the grocery store for us!

I think I´m basically in the middle of nowhere, but I like it. Staying at El Retiro Lodge in a bungalow by the river, it´s very relaxed and quiet. Off to check out the caves in a bit. Unfortunately I have to miss out on Semuc Champey, as the only transport option this week to Rio Dulce is tomorrow morning. A bit sad, but it´s the easiest way to get there, and I dont think I´m prepared to change busses 5 times, as I´ve heard from other people who have done the trip. Nevertheless, it´s finally really hot here!

The first dive spot today was Esmeralda, Tony said before this dive if you don't see sharks here this dive is free!  With that said, he grabbed my gear and sent me into the water first!  Shark bait?  Hmmmm I wonder?!  This was an amazing dive though, we did video on this one.  Which was perfect because I really love the one of him dancing with the shark!  This dive was 47 minutes, average depth was 50ft., and the max depth we reached was 71.

Dive #2 was at Mata Chica Canyon, all the pics are from this dive!  I got to take most of them here, but I actually shared the camera with Jarod a few times!  Bottom time on this dive was 41 minutes, average depth was 53ft, with the max of 73ft.  Besides all the beautiful coral and fish here the starfish was the highlight of this dive.

After this dive day ended we ate lunch at the resort restaurant the upper deck, then headed into town for some sightseeing and grocery shopping!  Then hung out at the pool, life was really tough here you know!

Before going to Belize we did extensive research on dive shops. Since this was our first time going we wanted to see who the more reputable guys were. After all, you don't want to be left out at sea or something like that. We consistently found amigos del mar to have good reviews. Even people who used other places for regular diving would say that for the blue hole they would only use amigos. Upon arrival to our resort we found out that our resort used amigos as their dive guides, so we didn't even have to catch a ride into town to meet up with them we just had to walk up to our pier, talk about convenient! One thing that you will find out about Belize is that businesses don't really compete against each other. Most dive shops charged the same price for dives so when I say the price is average, I mean that from a Belize stand point. We only found one dive shop that charged less and we heard that their boats had a tendency to break down alot! Anyways, so we have a reputable name that provides service to our particular resort what more could you ask for? We used them for all our dives and here are just a few tidbits about them; No cattle boats, we found that we usually were the same five people that dove daily. However on the day that more people came along they added an extra guide to the dive. This company made it an effort to keep you with the same guide each time. We had the same guide 3 out of the four days, but even on the day that we had adifferent guide our original guide was our boat captain. So, we never got stuck seeing the same places twice. On our first day diving they made us set up our own gear to make sure we knew what we were doing, but on all the following days they kept our gear for us and had it ready to go by the time we arrived. They never once handed me the wrong gear. I found that despite the fact that we had the same guide most of the time they never slacked on the quality of the pre-dive briefing. Our guides were very thorough each time. All in all we felt extremely comfortable with this company and would recommend them. We will definetely use them again.

So I arrived in Coban yesterday and joined some Americans I met on the bus to go and check out a place to stay. Was nice and we splurged a bit in the restaurant there, had my first pizza in CA, but it was quite good surprisingly. Left this morning to look for another place to stay (not quite sure why, just felt like it) just to find out that the most interesting sounding places in the Lonely Planet didnt even exist and not even taxi drivers here had heard of. What do you say to this. Did find one I liked after all and been organizing myself a bit today, made more copies of my questionnaire (which I really need to get going!!), watched some ridiculously stupid american movies (dubbed in spanish) at the hostel with some members of the family that own this place. They loved em, I didnt so much. Im gonna go look for some food now and head to Lanquin tomorrow!

Stayed at Iguana Perdida in Santa Cruz, which is a nice place with family atmosphere. Met some nice people and partied at their weekly dress up night. Went as a Santa Clause in baggy-style. Had family dinners there every night, which I thought was great as you actually got to know everyone better.
Took off to San Pedro after a few days and stayed with a girl named Quin in a private room right by the lake. Saw the most craziest rainfall and steep cobble streets literally turning into waterfalls! scary! Also scary was the fact that we couldnt find avocados for sale anywhere. That was quite hard to accept, as I fell back into my avocado addiction here. I am still puzzled why we couldnt find any there. I mean usually they are sold everywhere in Central America.

Went straight to Antigua as I had no desire to stay in Guatemala City. And im glad I did!

Couldnt do the Volcano Pacaya, which is supposed to be awesome (it is still active with hot burning lava everywhere!).
Was going to take some Spanish classes, but decided to do that later in my trip.
Quite a pretty town all in all.

The barrier reef off of Ambergris Caye is the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere and second largest reef in the world.  The reef of course, is full of marine life and spectacular formations making it one of the best dive spots.  However the reef also serves the purpose of keeping the Island from eroding away!  From the air the reef can be observed by noticing a thin white line (the surf) dividing the two distinct colors of the water.  Inside the reef (meaning between the Island and the reef) the water is shallow getting to approx 10ft. only,  insanely clear, turquoise blue, and it's perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking.  Outside the reef the water becomes deep and a darker royal blue color perfect for diving.  To access the outside of the reef the boats go thru small channels called “quebradas” which literally means breaks in the reef.

On this day we did two dives, our dive guide was Tony and he was very good at pointing out things in the water!  He took us to cypress gardens, where we swam thru a tunnel and the coolest thing we saw there was of course the sea turtle!  The dive was about 60ft average for 40 minutes with a max depth of 76ft when going thru the tunnel.  Our next dive spot was called sandy point canyon, at this place we went thru a chimney like structure getting to a max depth of 87ft the average was 50ft and stayed down for 42 minutes.

Ok so for this trip we bought a new underwater camera (no more disposables YAY!)  Our camera is able to take pictures and video, but you can't switch from one to the other underwater.  We set the first dive for pictures and the second dive to video.  Now we are total amateurs at this and you will be able to tell!  However as the days progress and we became more familiar with our cameras features our pics and videos got better (promise!)

We got done diving at 1pm and at 2pm we were picked up by one of captain morgan’s resort boats to go over there and get a free lunch!  Yes, you are reading correctly, lol!  Ok remember I said, I would tell you the story of how we got the lamanai tour cheaper in town?  Well, here it goes; Captain Morgans is a brand new resort, they are actually still building on it at this point.  They are a resort you can book a stay there just like any other place, but they are also trying to sell time shares there.  So they try to get people to go there and take the tour and sit thru a presentation which is 90 minutes and they offer a free lunch in return.  At least most people on the island they have recruited to talk to you about it only offer you a free lunch.  As a matter a fact, the bar where we got our beer on the first day the bartender was trying to sell us on this tour.  We just said no, thanks!  However on our first evening walking around the town we were called out by this guy standing at a kiosk he was selling tours, as well as this presentation!  So, to make along story short we saved $30 bucks by booking our lamanai tour thru him as well as getting the free lunch!  Our resort booked the tour for $150 per person and he gave it to us for $135 per person. 

So, we get to Captain Morgans knowing we are giving up 90 minutes of our vacation for a free lunch and a cheaper rate on a tour.  However once we got there the first thing that happens is a representative comes and sits with you for about 5 minutes and asks you questions about vacation preferences, income (of course), and age.  Well, this place has minimum age requirement for the presentation of 35, and I am just shy of 35 and Jarod is even shyer!  So, we were told we did not qualify!  We still got the tour of the unit 30 minutes of that (which was very nice BTW!)  We got our free lunch and the reduced rate for the tour, but we did not have to sit thru the 1hour presentation, YES!  I love it we beat the system!  Once done they gave us a ride back to our resort complimentary of course! 

For the rest of this day we hung out at the pool a little, we cooked a spaghetti dinner this night in our room.  Then went back to the pool and swam and hung out in the hot tub (the pool is open all night BTW!)